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Storrow Drive taking over Esplanade?

EPISODE #2: DCR Hearing -- March 27/29, 2006
Click here for a March 27 NECN newscast including interview with LivableStreets executive director Jeff Rosenblum. external

Click here for March 28 article in the Globe detailing the four options. external

More information available soon on DCR website.

EPISODE #1: DCR Hearing -- February 13/15 2006
DCR Options: (1) Repair and maintain the existing tunnel; (2) Rebuild an identical tunnel and roadway system, (3) Demolish the tunnel and construct a parkway with traffic lights and crosswalks, (4) Build tunnels in both directions, putting all traffic under ground.

Click to download and view the DCR presentation [2 MB].

Or click here for a printable PDF version of the presentation [1 MB].

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

LivableStreets position: LivableStreets does not support the use of any part of the Esplanade parkland for motorized traffic under any circumstances. Alternative plans for rerouting traffic must be utilized.

Numbers: On a typical weekday morning during warm weather, over 200 people per hour use this park for walking, running, rollerblading, biking, wheelchair, and other recreation, health, and wellness activities. (Data from CTPS taken on May 10 and 11, 2005).

Some history: One of the most regretted decisions concerning the Charles was on the fate of the Esplanade. The Esplanade, made possible by Helen Storrow’s donation of $1 million, used to include the land that is now Storrow Drive. “The issue was lively and divisive,” writes Haglund, “the most protracted and public fight since the advent of auto traffic.” Drafts for a highway along the Charles went back to the 1920s, but the plan for the Esplanade approved by the legislature in 1929 “provided that no portion of the new park should be used for roadway construction . . . ” The Storrow Memorial Embankment was opened in 1935, giving direct access from Back Bay and the West End to the park along the river. When a movement to build a river highway reemerged in the late 1940s, a group of Boston residents organized an Embankment Protective Association (its members included Arthur Fiedler and BU President Daniel Marsh.) The bill to construct Storrow Drive was defeated in the legislature by just eight votes in 1948. “But the defeat was short-lived,” writes Haglund. “Two weeks later, the doors of the house chamber were locked. Then the house provided for the required three readings of the bill by adjourning twice and then reconvening. The roadway was passed by one vote, resulting in the construction of what is now Storrow Drive.” Heavily based on Winter 2002 article in Bostonia, BU's Alumni Quarterly (see link below); Also see: Inventing the Charles River, by Karl Haglund, MIT Press, 2002.

Click here for information on the two hearings being called by the DCR on this issue: February 13 and 15, 2006; and March 27 and 29, 2006. external

Click here for December 16, 2005 article in the Globe "Detour onto Esplanade under study; Storrow Drive tunnel in urgent need of repairs. external

Click here for the December 17, 2005 Globe article quoting Mayor Menino. external

Click here for January 4, 2006 Globe OpEd piece by Patrice Todisco, executive director of the Esplanade Association. external

Click here for January 8, 2006 Globe letter to the editor by Comissioner Burrington. external

Click here for the February 16, 2006 article in the Cambridge Chronicle "92,000 could seek Cambridge route". external

Click here for some history on how Storrow Drive was built against the will of the people, as written in the Winter 2002 article in Bostonia, BU's Alumni Quarterly. external

Click here for more information on Inventing the Charles River, by Karl Haglund. external

Send your comments to:
Department of Conservation and Recreation
251 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02114
617-626-1250
mass.parks@state.ma.us
Attention: Stephen Burrington, Commissioner

UPDATE: August 16, 2007

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LISTEN: 1-hour interview with Commissioner Sullivan on WBZ
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I think everyone should take the time to listen to the 8/16 interview and call-in on WBZ radio of Commissioner Sullivan by Jordan Rich.

Use this link to stream the audio to your computer
http://notetoself.net/share/wbz_aug_16.m3u

Please let me know if you have any problems listening.

Part 2 begins with Patrice. Part 3 starts with Kenneth Kruckemeyer, Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works from 1983 to 1991; he was Project Manager of the Southwest Corridor Project in Boston, and was named the Outstanding Engineering Achievement of 1988 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Clearly there is still a significant amount of education required of the decision makers and the general public regarding how to satisfy the transportation needs for urban cities to maximize quality of life and economic growth for the 21st century-- the answer is certainly not continuing with the same policy direction of the last 50 years of placing 100% focus on movement of single-occupancy automobiles.

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LISTEN: Burrington opens the 2/13/2006 hearing
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I also recommend that all Committee members listen to the first 7 minutes of this hearing. Click here to listen:
http://www.livablestreets.info/files/DCR_storrowtunnelhearing_13feb.WMA

Some text excepts:
Commissioner Burrington: "This is a parkland improvement project as well as a transportation project... this is in the midst of one of the most important parks and neighborhoods in Massachusetts...we will go into the subject of traffic management with all the same thoroughness and openness with which we will try to approach all other aspect...DCR will not be proposing or supporting any detouring of traffic onto the Esplanade...but everything is game for the environmental review process...but I am not supportive of redirecting traffic onto the Esplanade."

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READ: Boston Globe Dec. 17, 2005
"Mayor Raps Diversion of Tunnel Traffic"
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"...Mayor Thomas M. Menino raised objections yesterday to the idea of diverting motorists onto the Charles River Esplanade when the Storrow Drive Tunnel is being reconstructed by the state, and he questioned the state's ability to handle such a project efficiently..."

Click here for the whole article:
http://www.livablestreets.info/node/213

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WATCH: NECN story from March 27, 2006
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Commissioner Burrington reiterates no cars onto the Esplanade.

Click here to watch:
http://www.livablestreets.info/files/necn_storrowdrive_27march06.MPG

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WATCH: August 16, 2007 NECN story
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Click here to watch:
http://www.livablestreets.info/files/necn_storrowdrive_16aug07.MPG

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READ: Today's article in the Boston Globe
Revived plan for detour on Esplanade stirs outrage
State touts savings during tunnel project
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/16/revived_plan_for_de...